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Breaking: Obama Overturns Ban on Stem Cell Research

Cara

I just watched it live on CNN.com!  Whoa!

The executive order is a reversal of an executive order issued by President Bush in 2001:

Because stem cells have the potential to turn into any organ or tissue cell in the body, research advocates say they could yield cures to debilitating conditions such as diabetes, Parkinson’s disease and spinal injuries. But because work on embryonic stem cells involves the destruction of human embryos, many conservatives supported the limits Bush imposed by executive order in 2001.

Dr. Harold Varmus, president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and co-chairman of Obama’s science advisory council, said Sunday that Obama will “endorse the notion that public policy must be guided by sound, scientific advice.”

Obama’s order will direct the National Institutes of Health to develop revised guidelines on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research within 120 days, said Varmus, who joined Barnes in the conference call with reporters.

“The president is, in effect, allowing federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research to the extent that it’s permitted by law — that is, work with stem cells themselves, not the derivation of stem cells,” he said.

Obama also said that he hopes Congress will continue to support stem-cell research legislatively.  All of this is incredibly excellent news, and I cannot possibly express how very happy I am about the development.  It looks like we may in fact be moving towards a real “culture of life,” which values the lives of actual people.  Go President Obama!

h/t HollyOrd’s twitter

9 thoughts on Breaking: Obama Overturns Ban on Stem Cell Research

  1. This is such great news. It is still a nightmare to me that we lived eight years with that moran as president. What a refreshing change. Maybe stem cell research results will not live up to the hype, but we have to do the research to find out. There is the potential to help so many people who are suffering. One must simply be brain dead to oppose stem cell research.

  3. Obama is doing a lot of things I disagree with, in the short time he’s been president he’s done a lot of things I’ve disagreed with, and over the next four years I’m sure he’ll do a lot more things I will disagree with. With only one exception, however, I can understand and respect the logic involved in his decision making process. The man is actually trying to work out what is best, to think things through rather than just responding with his gut. This is an example of the fruit of that process, which alone makes me glad I voted for him. Agreeing with the decision is just icing on the cake.

    Looks like we might make it through this after all…

  4. As a scientist who has been cursing at those damned old cell lines that have been available for funding (fun fact: these cell lines are referred to in the field as “Presidential lines”), I am very happy about this!
    The ban on government funding is absurd, quite frankly, and led to things that are downright silly.
    For example, if you were working on non-Presidential lines (with non-federal money, of course), you couldn’t buy a pen with federal money and use it to write in your notebook.
    The janitor who changed the lightbulbs in your lab couldn’t be paid with federal money.
    These rules led to sights (common in many stem cells labs) of two sets of every piece of equipment (centrifuges, microscopes, incubators, boxes of pens…) with prominent signs on them indicating if they were federal or not. I shit you not.
    So I am happy.

  5. These rules led to sights (common in many stem cells labs) of two sets of every piece of equipment (centrifuges, microscopes, incubators, boxes of pens…) with prominent signs on them indicating if they were federal or not. I shit you not.
    So I am happy.

    George Bush: creating a world only Kafka could imagine and only the Marx Brothers thrive in.

  6. I know this subject has been in debate has been going on for a very long time. I am in hopes that some of the scientists involved are honest and not under the influence of Big Pharma. Sorry I have issues with corruption and profiteering at the expense of innocent people.

    I do have an real hard time with cloning, for now Cloning has not been allowed.

    There are still allot of things to debate on both of these issues. But I am happy that we did have a step forward today in history.

    Brad West ~ onomoney

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